Don't miss out!

Want form tips, how-tos, and product announcements sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for Formstack's monthly newsletter, and we'll deliver content that'll help you automate your data collection, get more form conversions, and save time on pesky business processes.

How to Make a Facebook Survey People Will Actually Take

Written by Heather Mueller on November 3, 2014

We’ve shared lots of resources for creating surveys people will actually take. But what happens when you take those tips and apply them to your Facebook page? There’s a chance your survey will fall flat.

The activity you see on your website may not be an indicator of how people will engage with your Facebook page. That’s why it’s time for new guidelines specific to creating Facebook surveys.

Why Survey on Facebook?

There are three big benefits to surveying on Facebook:

1. Data abounds.There are more than a billion users on Facebook, many are comfortable sharing (or even over-sharing… you know who you are). Facebook has become so integrated in our day-to-day lives that it’s easy to quickly gain a large number of responses.

2. The audience is receptive.In a space where people willingly participate in polls and sweepstakes daily, there’s a culture of responding. There’s a lot of potential for embedded survey forms to get people talking about your brand. Some great survey uses we’ve seen include:

Opinion polls

Contests

Event planning (for example, to find out what days and times work best)

Surveys with incentives

3. It’s easy to promote.With millions of users checking Facebook 14 times a day, there’s a good chance they’ll see and interact with your survey.

How is Facebook Different?

When someone visits your website, that person has come specifically to check out your company. Not so on Facebook. Most people are there to talk about themselves or spy on admire friends and acquaintances. They’re willing to participate in fun, fast surveys that offer benefits—as long as they don’t have to leave the Facebook app to fill out a form.

5 Quick Tips for Building a Facebook Survey

1. Embed it.Don’t ask respondents to leave Facebook to take your survey. Bring it to them! You’ll get a much higher response rate this way.

2. Keep it short.Three out of four users are typing on mobile touchscreens, so this is not the place for long answer fields. Make it effortless for followers to complete your survey. One-question polls, fill-in-the blank surveys and contests can all work well on Facebook.

3. Make it fun.Take a cue from the social atmosphere of Facebook to add a little personality and present your survey as an entertaining pop quiz instead of a dull request for feedback.

4. Offer an incentive.Even a little enticement can go a long way. Offering a discount, raffle entry, or special bragging rights can boost response rates.

5. Capture new leads.Request an email address so you can build out your marketing list. With Formstack, you can have this contact information automatically added to many popular email marketing platforms like MailChimp and AWeber.

Ready to get started?Formstack makes it easy to customize surveys for Facebook. With the Facebook Tab Embed feature, you can embed surveys directly onto your company’s Facebook page without a line of code. If you’re interested in testing this feature, sign up for a free Formstack trial below.

You read this, so you'll probably like...

About the Author

Heather MuellerHeather is a website copywriter and digital content strategist who loves helping brands generate leads through the power of the written word—especially when using Formstack. Connect with Heather on Twitter (@heathermueller) or on Google+.

Discover the Power of Formstack

Save time and accomplish more with great content. Sign up for our newsletter, and we’ll deliver interactive content and videos to help you simplify internal processes and boost form submission rates.

Formstack is an easy-to-use online form builder that streamlines processes for capturing and managing data. Create and publish branded web forms with no coding knowledge using the tool’s drag-and-drop builder. Over 40 popular web app integrations allow for seamless customer relationship management, email marketing, payment processing, and much more. For more information about Formstack, please visit formstack.com.